CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-53397

HighCVSS 7.5
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.53%

42th percentile - higher than 42% of all known CVEs

Summary

A memory leak was discovered in the Linux kernel's NFS server (nfsd) during SETACL decode failure handling. The decoder calls nfs_stream_decode_acl() twice for access and default ACLs, but if the second call fails, the first allocated posix_acl is not freed. The fix adds dedicated release functions (nfsaclsvc_release_setacl and nfs3svc_release_setacl) that properly clean both ACL fields.

Risk Assessment

The memory leak can gradually exhaust system resources on the NFS server, potentially leading to performance degradation or service failure over time.

Recommendation

Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix (commit in the mainline). Monitor your distribution for the patch and apply it as soon as possible.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: fix posix_acl leak on SETACL decode failure nfsaclsvc_decode_setaclargs() and nfs3svc_decode_setaclargs() each call nfs_stream_decode_acl() twice, first for NFS_ACL and then for NFS_DFACL. Each successful call transfers ownership of a freshly allocated posix_acl into argp->acl_access or argp->acl_default. If the first call succeeds but the second fails, the decoder returns false and argp->acl_access is left dangling. ACLPROC2_SETACL.pc_release was wired to nfssvc_release_attrstat and ACLPROC3_SETACL.pc_release was wired to nfs3svc_release_fhandle. Both only call fh_put() and have no knowledge of the ACL fields on argp. The posix_acl_release() pairs sat at the out: labels inside nfsacld_proc_setacl() and nfsd3_proc_setacl(), but svc_process() skips pc_func when pc_decode returns false, so that cleanup is unreachable on decode failure: svc_process_common() pc_decode() /* decode_setaclargs: false */ /* pc_func skipped */ pc_release() /* fh_put only -- ACLs leaked */ The orphaned posix_acl is leaked for the lifetime of the server. Fix by adding nfsaclsvc_release_setacl() and nfs3svc_release_setacl(), which release both argp->acl_access and argp->acl_default in addition to fh_put(), and wiring them as pc_release for their respective SETACL procedures. pc_release runs on every path svc_process() takes after decode, including decode failure, so the posix_acl_release() pairs are removed from the proc functions' out: labels to keep ownership in one place. This matches the existing release_getacl() pattern used by the sibling GETACL procedures.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS